Because it is not a state highpoint like Mount Rainier or Mount Hood, nor a fourteener like Mount Shasta, poor Mount Adams is truly the forgotten peak of the Cascades. Its remote location is a factor, too, since Mount Adams lies further east than other famous volcanoes and far from any big city. However, the peak is an impressive sight from the heavily travelled Columbia Gorge to the south.

Mount Adams is still the 3rd highest major Cascade volcano, trailing only Rainier and Shasta and towering a good 1,000 feet higher than Mount Hood. It is a massive peak, somehat hump-shaped, and ringed by large glaciers on all sides but the south, where permanent snowfields allow for an easy and non-technical ascent.